Door chime question

I have an electric door chime that plays songs.

I recently changed the outside bar you push. The new bar did not have a resistor (I think that was what it is) across the two screws.

I pushed the bar, and the chime would only play as long as you held in the bar. I put the resistor on the new bar from the old one, same thing.

Anyone know what I can do to get this to play the whole song with one single push of the bar?

About the only thing I didn't do is reverse the resistor (?) and try that. But would that make a difference?

The chime plays fine, and will play the whole tune, but you just have to stand there and hold it, or it only plays the first note or two depending on how long the person holds the button down for.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B
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Hi, Are you sure it is a resistor? It could be a TD relay of sort.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Looks like a resistor. Wire in, wire out, about 1/8" diameter body, but only about 1/8" to 3/16" body length. Not sure about the color bands, would have to go pull it tomorrow to see if it does have color bands indicating resistance rating.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B
[snip]

It could be a diode. ISTR some chimes use them. If it has a single band at one end, that's likely what it is.

HTH

Reply to
Randy Day

I hope not, or I learned things wrong. ....unless it's a diode and not a resistor. Any chance of that?

Reply to
mm

without your purchase of an inexpensive multimeter, i don't know how to suggest you test this item. is it possible that the old button opened instead of closed the circuit to start the music and the resistor held power to the device to play the music followed by standby mode? simple answers: a resistor has no polarity it is a 2-way street; a diode has polarity, it is a one-way street. here's the who/what/where/when/why/how to stimulate further exploration of your question. who/[you] what/was this a repair of a problem? what symptom were you repairing? are there any batteries involved in the chime? any batteries in the transmitter button? is the button lighted when pushed/not pushed? where/country and voltage used at device? wired or wireless doorbell? how many wires? is there an intercom related to this device on these wires? when/was this manufactured or installed? why/was there a malfunction to begin with? was this device working before you changed it? is it possible that an original higher voltage transformer requires a dropping or holding resistor or diode to install the the newer device requiring a different voltage? here's a schematic of someone's homemade doorbell:

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also wikipedia. see also:
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an incredible FAQ see Troubleshooting and Repair of Consumer Electronics Equipment at:
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"For example, I was able to quickly identify the trigger transistor of in a wireless door bell by using my finger to locate the point that caused the chimes to sound. This quickly confirmed that the problem was in the RF front end or decoder and not the audio circuitry."

On Jan 27, 10:14 pm, "Steve B" wrote:

Reply to
buffalobill

Other stuff snipped.

The plastic portion of the bar you pushed had broken due to age. I put in the electronic component as the other one came out. I will be working in that area today, and am going to take it out again, and reverse it, and see what happens. I will see what the readings are on it, as I have a tester.

STeve

Reply to
Steve B

It is a diode, I have an old DAK unit that plays 40 songs, make sure the diode is making good contact on the screws. I forget if it matters which way, since it is ac voltage to start with, I do not think so. But when the diode is not connected - you get that issue.

Reply to
allan

Thanks to those who helped. I went out and reversed the diode today, and it worked perfectly the first time.

I think it is a diode rather than a resistor because it only has one silver color band on it, and IIRC, resistors have at least two color bands. The length of the "barrel" part is only about its diameter.

Anyway, if the polarity of the component was the problem, reversing it fixed it. If it just wasn't getting contact, then redoing it made contact. The question of polarity is not relative once it works. I didn't want to double test it, because I learned that when you get it working, LEAVE IT ALONE.

A veterinarian friend of mine said something that they told him in vet school. "Better is the enemy of good. If you've done something of a good quality, leave it alone, and don't try to make it better."

Anyway, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home" now plays start to finish with one jab on the new door bell bar.

Thanks again.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

I'm glad you got it working. Now here's my question, which kind of relates to your "good enough" theory:

Why does anyone need more than a simple Ding-Dong to know if someone is at the door?

In fact, our chimer went from Ding-Dong to just Dong many, many years ago. I never saw any sense in spending money to fix it. Everytime someone comes to the door and rings the bell, we know it. It's always been "good enough".

Partly kidd> Thanks to those who helped. I went out and reversed the diode today, and it

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Wow, you have the luxury model. Ours has not worked at all for 20 years. If you come to the front door and ring the bell, I probably don't want to see you anyway.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I'm the other way. I have so few friends I desperately need to talk to anyone who comes to the door.

When I spent a lot of time in the baseent, I added a bell there, and when I got hooked on the computer, I connected a wireless doorbell transmitter to the current doorbell system, and put a receiver/noisemaker upstairs.

My bells only go ding dong, but I can understand the OP. In my car I used to have airhorns, aaoogah, and the original horns, and switches to go from one to the other. The current car has no room under the hood for such things. :(

Reply to
mm

Hi, If a diode, usually black body color.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Hmmm, Our chime plays Westminster bell. It is old electro/mechanical rotary gong with this multiple tuned pipes hanging down. Front door, back door, side door all plays different tune. Been with my family almost half a century(sounds better than 50 years, LOL). I take it with me when we move.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

"Tony Hwang" wrote

Yup. Black barrel body, short in length, and one silver band.

Reply to
Steve B

Hell if I know. This was in the house when I got here, and according to the good/better thing, why would I change it as long as it's free and working?

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

Actually, only Mormon missionaries and process servers come to that door. Everyone else knows how to go through the garage or through the side gate.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

If it's a diode, it matters which way around it's installed.

BTW, what was wrong with the old button (and have you tried putting it back to see if that fixes things) ?

Reply to
Noozer

I discovered that I had replaced the diode in reverse. I reversed it, and it works perfectly now. The problem with the old one was that the plastic bar had died.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

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